In the less enlightened times of our parents, expectant fathers were left to pace the waiting room whilst others attended to the birth of their offspring. So we now find ourselves sitting in Mahon similarly awaiting the arrival of a vital piece of equipment for the engine.

Weeks of planning and 5 days of intense preparation are now behind us and yesterday we ran a final sea trial of the autohelm. Much slapping of backs and jubilation from the crew was quickly followed by a down to earth thud as the bilges filled with water following the failure of a cooling pipe in the engine room.

Sunday is not a good day to experience mechanical failure in Spain as every engineer on the island is enjoying the Sabbath with their families. Frantic phone calls this morning to the Yanmar main agent has produced a man with a spanner exhibiting a familiar sucking of teeth and shaking of head which usually precedes a large bill.

At this time (11.00 hrs) we are sitting waiting for his re-appearance hopefully bearing the repaired or replacement part.

Departure was planned for 12.00 noon but this may now be more like 15.00